Moment
by Kasumi S
Summary: Just after the end of Harry's last battle with Voldemort, Harry sits in a tree and mulls over the lives lost. An apparition comes to knock some sense into him. Harry/Draco.


How is everyone? It seems I have no time to write lately... Well, this is a little ficlet, kind of angsty, but not too much... It is a bit sad though...  
WARNING: Slash. Sap. Angst. That's about it.  
DISCLAIMER: No. Not mine. Never mine. Always hers. Never mine. *sniffles*   
  
*** Moment  
***  
  
Harry Potter stumbled through the masses of bodies strewn carelessly on the ground. He did not see them anymore. There was a time when he would have broken down and cried right in the middle of the battlefield. But that time was over. His eyes were blank as he gazed about him. He then made his way towards the only tree in the field.  
  
It was an old tree, with deep roots and large branches. Though horrible things had been going on there, the tree still clung to the earth, as if to say, 'I've been here since before any of you were born, and here I shall stay.'  
  
Harry had always had an affinity with trees, perhaps because he always escaped to them whenever Dudley and his dull-witted friends were chasing him. He had perfected a method of climbing trees at the age of nine and he had to confess, he was rather good at it. Now, he needed to just sit in one and indulge in self-pity. Trees were ever so good at being solid and strong and there when you needed a place to brood properly.  
  
He climbed wearily into a branch about halfway up the tree and sat there. His empty eyes stared out at the field. He had visited this place before the clash. It had been beautiful then, with grass up to his knees and pastel flowers growing every square inch. The grass had been trampled over however and the flowers uprooted. Oh, and the bodies everywhere didn't improve the entire effect either.  
  
Harry closed his heavy eyelids. Maybe if he just slept, it would all go away. Perhaps all the facts of his damned life would disappear if he went to sleep. When he awoke, maybe Remus would be there to greet him and Dumbledore and Fred and Charlie and Cho and Cedric and Justin and Dean... everyone would wake him up and tell him joyfully that it was all a dream... A stupid bloody dream... And maybe even Dra--  
  
"Why are you sleeping now? It's still morning."   
  
Harry's eyes flew open. He saw no one. "Who said that?"  
  
"Look up, Harry." Harry looked. There, on a branch above his, sitting and swinging his leg leisurely, was Draco.  
  
"Draco?"  
  
"Yes, and your name is Harry Potter and you are sleeping at ten o'clock in the morning. Are you ill or something?" Draco looked at him carefully. "You don't look ill."  
  
Harry stared at him. "No, but I might've gone crazy. Draco... you're supposed to be dead."  
  
"Yes, so I am..." Draco mused aloud. "Oh that's right. I am dead." He grinned as if this explained the entire reason why he was sitting in the same tree as Harry though he died nearly three months ago.  
  
"So... am I dead?"   
  
"Oh no, I just decided that you were being incredibly stupid, so I came to visit you and knock some sense into that thick head of yours."  
  
Harry couldn't believe this. Here he was, the Boy Who Just Defeated Voldemort and he was being lectured by a dead person. "Are you sure I'm not dead?"  
  
"Quite, Harry, quite."  
  
"Oh. Why are you here again?"  
  
"Because you are stupid."  
  
"I see."  
  
There was silence.   
  
"So, anyways, the reason you are stupid is because at the moment, you are suicidal, you are going crazy and you are acting like you have no... emotions. Therefore you are stupid."  
  
"What?"  
  
"My God, you never used to be this dim. What the fuck happened to you?"  
  
Then Harry found his voice. "Well, if you need the entire story, I'll give it to you. People are dead. Hundreds of them. Thousands. So many of my friends are dead. And it's all because of me. You're dead, Dean's dead, I haven't seen Ron for two months, Ginny's missing in action--"   
"And why is this all your fault?" Draco interrupted. "It's not your fault that these people are dead--" "Yes, it is my fault. I didn't defeat him earlier. I was weak. I didn't do anything right and it cost people their lives, Draco." "When will you stop blaming yourself for everything? It. Is. Not. Your. Bloody. Fault. And why are you so self-centered? Not everything involves you, you know. Me, me, me. I think I've heard enough about you and the millions of people that died 'because of you.'"  
  
"If I had just done something sooner..." "You are only human, Harry. You are not the one to decide the fate of all the people in the world. You have to let it go, or you won't be able to live the rest of your life." Draco gazed steadily at Harry. "I've seen a glimpse of it. Believe me, it's gonna be incredible. But you've got to live it."  
  
Harry was silent. "But..." "No buts, ands or ifs. They died so that you could live and help the living. You can't very well do that if you're dead, now can you?"  
  
Harry looked out at the battlefield. "All right. I'll try."  
  
"Good. If you start being stupid again though, I will be forced to take over your body and make you give yourself a sex change."  
  
Harry laughed aloud. Draco smiled. Then Harry sobered. "Are you going then?"  
  
A wry smile. "No reason for me to stay. And my mission was to convince you to live. The mission is accomplished and therefore I have about one minute left to stay here."  
  
"Oh." Silence.  
  
"Well, are you going to kiss me goodbye or not? You didn't last time, you know."  
  
Harry smiled wryly. "Now, whose fault was that?"  
  
"All yours, darling." Draco leaned in toward Harry. Harry's eyes closed. He could almost feel Draco's breath, almost feel Draco's lips. But not quite. Draco sighed. Harry's eyes fluttered open. Draco was gone.  
  
"Goodbye," Harry whispered to no one.  
  
***  
That's the end of that. Finally. I am finally done with this story... Well, please do review now that you've read my story. I would greatly appreciate feedback. 


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